Businesses such as MoneyGram International offer money transfer and other services through a network of agents. A customer that desires to use these services to transfer money to a third party usually takes the money to an agent of the money transfer service. The agent accepts the money, obtains necessary information such as the customer's identity and the identity of the receiver, and initiates a transaction. The money is then made available to the receiver by another agent.
Many countries have laws and regulations (compliance requirements) relating to money transfer and similar activities. These regulations often specify limits on the nature and amount of transactions, the types of information that must be collected in connection with these activities and associated reporting requirements. For example, a country may have a rule in place that stipulates that an individual may only send or receive a specific amount of money in a year, or that businesses providing money transfer services must report how much money was transferred by a consumer out of the country during the course of the year. In addition, some countries may require collection of additional information such as a phone number or birthdate. These compliance requirements can vary with a variety of factors such as the country where the transfer originates, the country to which funds are being transferred, the amount of the transfer and the number of transfers by the customer.
Limited customer identity information, such as name and/or phone number, is typically required to initiate a transaction. In some situations, a customer may request and complete a transaction without verifying their identity to the money transfer service. It can therefore be difficult to obtain the information needed to comply with governmental laws and regulations. Case management programs such as NORKOM, available from NORKOM Technologies, can be used to analyze trends in completed transactions. The information can subsequently be used to generate currency transaction reports. However, the capability of such programs is limited. They do not have the capability of analyzing data in real time, and they are not capable of collecting data at the point of sale. Only completed transactions are reported and analyzed and the information is reviewed after the transactions have been completed.
There is therefore a need for a system capable of enhancing the compliance of money transfer transactions with regulatory transaction and reporting requirements. Any such system should be efficient and accurate.